2012 China Open: An early exit for Hirokatsu Hashimoto, Noriyasu Hirata from Men’s Doubles event
Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata failed to live up to their billing and crashed out of Li Ning China Open in a woeful manner on November 14, 2012.
The World Number 13 pair was expected to have a smooth road to the final rounds but a lower ranked Taipei team put their expedition to a halt.
Hung Ling Chen and Chia Bin Lu performed beyond expectations and outshined their rivals with an impressive result of 20-22, 21-16 and 21-16.
This epic tussle lasted for one hour and both contenders kept the audience intact with a mesmerising show of skills in local badminton arena of Shanghai.
Initially, the Japanese campaigners established an immediate lead in the match score position but they could not go with the same flow in the ending two games.
Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata kick-started their campaign by clinching the opening match point.
Though, they took some time to get on right track but couple of consecutive points after 9-9 provided them the required momentum.
The first half of the set ended with a tight margin of 11-9 and both teams put all in their possession to oust their opponent in the ending part of the game.
They kept on chasing each other in third quarter of the set but Hirokatsu and Noriyasu tipped the scale in their favour with 22-20 score on the board.
However, the Taipei players did not lose heart after this loss and made amends by showing strong character in the following game.
This time Ling Chen and Chia Bin did not repeat previous mistakes and stayed close on the points table until last shot was played. They struck hard after 14-15 and brought the contest to the right balance with 21-16 margin.
The Japanese shuttlers got dazzled with their rivals’ lustrous performance and failed to reinstate their supremacy.
On the other hand, the Taipei players showed a constant elevation and locked the honour in a splendid manner.
Ling Chen and Chia Bin established a strong grip with 10-5 total and then served notice of their potential with an indomitable figure of 21-15.
This was a wrap and Hirokatsu-Noriyasu had to bid farewell to the event after facing this 1-2 defeat.
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